https://www.onfaith.co/commentary/its-a-new-year-and-a-wonderful-life-for-this-atheist
I enjoy celebrating many holidays, and I also like to reflect on their origins and how the meanings of some holidays have changed for me over the years. As a youngster, my family prepared carefully for the first day of the new year—but not the one you are celebrating now. We were an Orthodox Jewish family whose new year, Rosh Hashanah, falls on the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Why the seventh month and not the first?
I enjoy celebrating many holidays, and I also like to reflect on their origins and how the meanings of some holidays have changed for me over the years. As a youngster, my family prepared carefully for the first day of the new year—but not the one you are celebrating now. We were an Orthodox Jewish family whose new year, Rosh Hashanah, falls on the first day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. Why the seventh month and not the first?
Rosh Hashanah commemorates the anniversary of the creation of the world 5,777 years ago. (It’s the year 4,713 of the Chinese calender, so Jews had to go 1,064 years without Chinese food. Talk about hardships!) This scientifically indefensible tradition is based on a literal interpretation of Genesis. (Almost no Jews believe this, by the way.) It reminds me of a quip from Paul Erdos, a Jewish atheist and one of the finest mathematicians of the twentieth century. He claimed to be two and a half billion years old. His reasoning? When he was a child, the earth was known to be two billion years old. And when he was an adult, it was known to be four and a half billion years old. This Erdos anecdote teaches us that we don’t have all the answers, and in light of new evidence we must sometimes discard beliefs learned in childhood.
Jewish Humanists like me continue the tradition of celebrating Rosh Hashannah, but change the observance to a godless one. We reflect on actions of the previous year and contemplate how to improve in the coming year. Some might even make New Year’s resolutions. Ever wonder about the origin of that? In 153 BCE, the Roman Senate declared January 1 to be the beginning of the new year and named the first month after Janus, the god of beginnings. Traditions of the season dating back even further to the early Babylonians included making resolutions.
About a decade ago, I made a New Year’s resolution never to make another New Year’s resolution. That turned out to be one of the few resolutions I managed to keep over the years. But I do look for ways to improve myself and our culture in the coming year. I also look for ways to turn bad news into good news. In 2002, I helped found the Secular Coalition for America. Its mission is to increase the visibility of and respect for nontheistic viewpoints, and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government. That year President George W. Bush unintentionally helped unify our secular movement, which feared that he was taking our secular country closer to a theocracy. The Secular Coalition raised enough money to hire a staff and full-time lobbyists to raise awareness and our concerns about that with Congress .
At the moment, the new year doesn’t seem too bright for atheists and humanists because of the recent election. We have major concerns about how best to stop the incoming Congress and Trump administration from knocking down the wall of separation between religion and government. The Secular Coalition and other nontheistic organizations are actively working against the wave of religious privilege sweeping the country, and we are receiving support from alarmed Americans who are appalled by some of Trump’s tweets and cabinet nominees. We have joined forces with progressive religious groups on selected issues in lobbying against the government’s favoring one religion over another, or religion over non-religion. There is a lot of work for us to do, but I am cautiously optimistic that 2017 will be a very good year to make America secular, inclusive, and kind again.
I’ll close with a personal story about why the first day of the New Year will always be a very special day for me. After living happily together in sin for ten years, Sharon felt we were too old to be boyfriend and girlfriend, and suggested that we marry. I responded with a cliché, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but nevertheless Sharon and I married one minute after midnight on January 1, 2000. We had a nice secular ceremony in our home, with friends sharing champagne and a delicious Ben & Jerry ice cream wedding cake. Though I don’t believe in souls, I’m comfortable saying that Sharon has been my soul mate and best friend for the past 27 years. Our tradition is to celebrate the New Year with champagne, Ben & Jerry ice cream, and much love. So no matter who is president, it’s a wonderful life for Sharon and me.
I wish you all a happy one, too.
